Finland’s heat and power sector burned through less primary forest wood last year — and the volume gap is being filled by factory offcuts, bark, and processed pellets. That is according to preliminary data from Luke, the Natural Resources Institute Finland, published yesterday, which revealed that total solid wood fuel consumption at heat-only and combined heat and power plants of 20.8 million cubic metres, equivalent to 40.8 terawatt hours, down five per cent on 2024.
The forest chip collapse drove that fall, with consumption dropping 13 per cent to 9.1 million cubic metres — the steepest single-category decline in the dataset — as combined heat and power plants drew 5.6 million cubic metres, off 13 per cent, whilst heat-only plants consumed 3.5 million, down 14 per cent. Roundwood chips led the retreat, falling 17 per cent to 6.3 million cubic metres. Logging residues held comparatively steady at 2.6 million cubic metres, off three per cent, whilst stump use slipped a tenth to 0.2 million cubic metres.
The shift matters beyond Finland’s borders.
Brussels is progressively tightening the criteria for which wood sources qualify toward national renewable targets under the revised Renewable Energy Directive, and primary roundwood is the category most exposed. Finnish operators are already rotating away from it — and other European biomass markets are watching.
Forest industry by-products absorbed most of the volume gap, rising to 10.4 million cubic metres overall. Bark — the dominant category at 6.4 million cubic metres, up seven per cent — led the recovery, with sawdust adding a further 2.8 million. Industrial chips ran against the grain, falling 13 per cent to 1.0 million cubic metres.
Wood pellets and briquettes were the year’s outlier — up 15 per cent to 460,000 tonnes, the only fuel category to post double-digit volume growth across all of 2025, as processed densified fuels continue gaining ground even as raw chip demand retreats. Recycled wood ran in the opposite direction, edging down six per cent to 1.0 million cubic metres.
Including fuelwood burned in small-scale residential housing, Finland’s total solid wood fuel consumption reached 27.7 million cubic metres. Uusimaa led all regions at 2.5 million cubic metres, recording the highest forest chip consumption at 1.5 million cubic metres, whilst South Karelia posted the largest draw on forest industry by-products at 1.3 million cubic metres.
